The Australian Outback certainly isn’t for everyone. Unfortunately, one man had to find this out in the worst way. As Tom was on his way to work one morning, he received a surprise visitor. But it wasn’t exactly a welcomed visitor. In that moment, Tom began to panic, fearing for his life. As he called out for help, he didn’t receive the answer he was hoping to get.
John had it pretty easy while growing up. He grew up in a great home and had everything he could ever ask for. But he liked things neat. As a child who lived in the outback, it wasn’t an easy way to be. The other kids were rough and always ready to get dirty, but John wanted nothing to do with it. Because of it, John became estranged from the other children, and one playground incident would change his life forever.
When John was younger, he experienced something life-changing. While at school one day, there was a pet show and tell. One of John’s classmates brought in his worst nightmare to show the class. Inside of a container was a slithering corn snake, and John was absolutely repulsed by it. That was when the worst-case scenario happened. The classmate accidentally knocked over the container the snake was in. The class went crazy, and finally, the snake found a place to relax.
While John was at recess he opened his lunch box to a scary sight. The missing snake slithered out of the box. As John screamed, he threw his lunch box up in the air. But as the lunch box began to come back down, the snake fell on John’s arm. The snake became frightened and bit down onto John’s thumb, which obviously frightened the small boy. Unfortunately, it turned into a phobia that continued with him throughout his whole life. Unfortunately, John would have to face his nemesis again.
As an adult, John was still the order-obsessed perfectionist that he was when he was younger. As John was making his way to work one day, he entered into the garage and got an eerie type of feeling. He felt like he was being watched. Then, John heard a bone-chilling noise. John immediately turned as soon as he heard the low hiss. As soon as he looked, John saw two eyes staring at him. His stomach dropped.
As John laid his eyes on the python, he knew he only had one option. He swallowed his anxiety and grabbed his phone. He was fumbling like a madman, but he eventually managed to dial the number that he was looking for. But John was surprised by the voice on the other end. Stew Lalor wasn’t exactly your typical snake catcher. Actually, he was the opposite of that, which John would soon discover.
Stew Lalor wasn’t what someone would expect. When you think about snake catchers, he was the opposite. Stew fought for the rights of snakes. Unfortunately, this made him a bit unpopular. Clients were often disappointed when they called him out, which caused him a bit of trouble in the office. His boss constantly struggled to reign in Stew to keep his clients happy. But there would be no client meeting that would compare to the meeting of Stew and John.
They typically say that opposites compliment each other, but in Stew and John’s case, nothing could have been further from the truth. They were polar opposites. As soon as Stew arrived, he encountered a hysterical John. Stew actually thought the reaction was funny, which only caused John to grow more anxious. Then John asked Stew to do something that went against what he believed in. John demanded that Stew kill the snake. But luckily, Stew changed John’s mood a bit.
Stew outright refused to kill the snake, which infuriated John. “Can’t you see this thing is too dangerous to be left alive?” screamed John. It only took a few moments for John to go from frightened to frantic. Once again, John demanded that Stew dispose of the snake. John even began to threaten to call the police on the snake catcher. This left a foul taste in Stew’s mouth. How could John demand that he take an innocent creature’s life? But then, opportunity showed itself.
As John was screaming, an opportunity appeared. Stew noticed that the snake was winding its way to behind John’s back from the rafter. Vengeance began to course through Stew’s body. And he definitely wanted to give the snake what it needed. The snake began to coil its body, as though it was getting ready to strike. The snake’s eyes grew steady and his body became taut. A moment later, the snake shot out.
Stew immediately knew what he had to do. As the snake moved towards John, Stew jumped into action. In an act of bravery, Stew pushed John to the side and grabbed the snake. As John fell to the floor, he saw what was happening around him. He immediately changed his opinion of Stew. The man that had made him so angry was now his hero. Instantly, John knew what needed to be done.
As if he was being controlled, John jumped to help Stew. As he overcame his hesitations, John grabbed the tail of the slithering snake. Stew was then able to secure the snake’s head. Once the snake was under control, Stew turned to John to thank him. Finally, the men were able to come to an agreement: John no longer wanted the snake to be killed. In fact, he agreed with Stew that it should be released into the wild. But their story wasn’t finished there.
Surprisingly, Stew realized that the snake was a coastal carpet python. It was unusual because these snakes are rarely dangerous to humans. Stew assumed that the snake must have felt threatened by John’s hysterics, so she attacked in an attempt to protect herself. The snake was an overwhelming 6-feet-long, so it was really no surprise that John was frightened of her. But as soon as Stew shared their story, something amazing happened.
Stew’s goal in life was to spread awareness about snakes. He wanted to show the people in Australia that snakes are misunderstood. As he shared the story about John and the carpet python, awareness quickly spread. Stew wasn’t trying to say that snakes weren’t dangerous, he just wanted the public to be more educated. He wanted to spread awareness about the wonderful creatures, so he needed to show the public how to handle snakes if the situation presented itself. And he definitely changed John’s view.
Due to the interaction he had with Stew, John was a changed man. He left the snake story in his past, leaving him with the feeling of empowerment. He wasn’t afraid anymore, and instead of a crippling phobia, he respected snakes. The strange pair had been through a dangerous situation because they worked together. Even though they were polar opposites, John and Stew worked together perfectly when they needed to. And they were both better because of it.